Ex-defence secretary: US was right to intervene in Iraq

Former defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind has said the US was right to intervene in Iraq as members of the UN have "a responsibility to protect".

"That's a general statement but means when you have some potential humanitarian disaster on a vast scale then you can't just sit back and say how sad it is, you have to try and intervene," the Intelligence and Security Committee chairman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

Displaced families from the minority Yazidi faith flee the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar. Credit: REUTERS/Ari Jalal

"Here we have a total of 150,000 people who have fled from their homes and in danger of losing their lives."

He said the world could not "directly intervene" in that area, but stressed that limited action could be taken to address the "specific humanitarian threat" against the Yazidi people.